Federal deficit for first half of year is $413B

Spending from Oct. 1 through March 31 totaled $1.7 trillion while revenue was $1.3 trillion.

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The figures represent an improvement from last year, when the deficit had reached nearly $600 billion by the end of March.

The total deficit for fiscal year 2013 was $680 billion. This was in large part due to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac making large payments to the government. Federal revenue was also strong last year.

The lower deficit number comes on a day when the House voted to approve a 10-year budget that would cut spending by $5.1 trillion over 10 years in order to bring the federal budget into balance within 10 years. Democrats said the budget is overly austere and would cause job losses.

For March of this year, the Treasury reported the deficit was $37 billion.